Moravian College senior Brielle Ferraro lives in a dorm that overlooks an industrial corridor hugging the Monocacy Creek.

"I woke up about 4 and closed my window right away," she said. "It just was a bunch of light and I thought it was an accident and then because of the smoke, and breathing it in … I could smell it and hear it."

Fire Chief Robert Novatnack said the first crews arrived at Monocacy Fabricators at 1150 Mauch Chunk Road moments before the plant's 4 a.m. shift was scheduled to begin. He said much of the plant was in flames.

Firefighters responded to a multi-alarm fire early Wednesday morning in Bethlehem

Firefighters responded to a multi-alarm fire early Wednesday morning in Bethlehem

Smoke blanketed parts of the city as emergency officials shut down streets, ordered residents to keep their windows closed, cut power to the area and opened a temporary shelter for residents who might want to leave their homes.

Several blocks to the west, Florence Trapp said the smoke woke her around 4:45 a.m.

"The house was flooded with smoke, which makes me realize I need to check my smoke alarms," said Trapp, who moved to west Bethlehem a month ago. She also lost power.

It got so bad, Trapp thought about packing up her children and heading for a friend's house in Allentown.

An industrial fire burned on Mauch Chunk Rd in Bethlehem on Wednesday morning

(The Morning Call)

"The concern about the air is that [whatever was burning] was plastic," she said after checking websites about the company. "I thought it could be anything from metal to plastic. … I just thought if we don't know for sure where the fire is, I'd rather not risk being close to it."

The company does sheet metal work and stores large amounts of oils at the fabricating plant, Novatnack said.

He said firefighters brought the blaze under control about 9:30 a.m.

Rubber and other materials on the roof of the plant created a chemical smell that residents reported, Novatnack said.

The fire destroyed nearly half of the roof, burned through offices filled with paper and blazed through machinery and vehicles stored in the building, he said. He could not yet put a dollar figure on the damages.

Fire crews used monitors to measure air and water quality, and no dangerous chemicals were detected Wednesday, Novatnack said.

"There were no readings on the meters," he said at a news conference after the fire was out.

Novatnack said officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire. No injuries were reported and the building was not occupied at the time, he said.

As firefighters worked for more than five hours at the two-alarm fire, plumes of smoke could be seen for miles.

William Penn Elementary School closed Wednesday because of the power outages, according to Joseph Roy, superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District.

Fire officials said one of the owners of Monocacy Fabricators came to the site, and other owners would be interviewed.

According to online records, the property is an industrial complex owned by Damper Designs Inc. and might be for sale.

Fire crews were scheduled to remain on the scene throughout Wednesday night, Novatnack said, and a portion of Elizabeth Avenue to Laurel Street remained closed to traffic. He said no residents used the shelter that officials provided.

Northampton County emergency workers drove through the area about once an hour during the day with air-quality monitors to check for carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, natural gas and oxygen levels.

Jeff Steiert, of Northampton County Emergency Management Services, said Wednesday afternoon that crews had not recorded any hazardous readings within a two-block radius of the fire.

Emergency management officials from the state and Northampton and Lehigh counties, officials from the state Fish and Boat Commission and a hazmat team were also at the site. Novatnack said the hazmat officials were working to keep the runoff from the fire out of the Monocacy Creek.

Fire officials won't know if there were any hazardous materials until they can go through the building inventory. Novatnack said the investigation was just beginning and could take a day to a few weeks.

An Allentown fire crew was called to assist and remained on the scene late Wednesday morning, helping Bethlehem firefighters cut holes into the roof to ventilate the building.

During the fire, emergency dispatchers reported power was out at Eighth Avenue and Union Boulevard. Novatnack said power was cut to the area to ensure the safety of firefighters battling the blaze near low-hanging wires.

According to PPL Corp.'s website, more than 2,500 west Bethlehem customers were in the dark just before 6 a.m. Wednesday. By 6:30 a.m., that number had dropped to 373, and Novatnack said the power was back on for the remaining residents about noon.

Jessica Potkovac, a senior at Moravian, lives on Union Street. She said she awoke about 4:30 a.m. and joined a group of neighbors in the street.

"We could see a big plume of smoke lit up from [the fire], but we couldn't see the flames," Potkovac said.

She said the smoke smelled like rubber. Her apartment only lost power for about 20 minutes, but others weren't as lucky.

Kyle Smicker and his roommates had no power until after 11 a.m. He said that when he left his house on Fairview Avenue, he could still see the hazy smoke on his street.

Joe Polack, who lives farther downhill from Smicker, said he awoke early Wednesday morning.

"It was dark, all my lights were out and it smelled like smoke," Polack said.